# How long do Pokemon live?



## Ayame (Oct 5, 2008)

Seriously, how long do normal Pokemon (like Skitty, Charizard, nonlegendaries) live?
Like, even in the game, Pokemon die...  But in the anime, Ninetales supposedly lives ages...  I know that's based on kitsune legends and such, but seriously, who is dying first?  Your Pidgey, or you?  Personally, I think it would be devastating to have your Pokemon die of old age.  Has this been mentioned in the anime?  I know they can die, say, if they have large wounds/sacrifice themselves, but Pokemon hardly seem to age.  They just evolve, but they're basically timeless.  Especially legendaries, who live ages and ages.
If Pokemon live a long, long time, then what happens when you die?  Do they die, too, or do they get released?  Would they die more easily having to fend for themselves in the wild, or would their lifespan stay the same?
It seems so strange, and even though they obviously cannot perish ingame, how long do the creatures live in general? 
Or do Pokemon die and become ghost Pokemon?  That would be kind of awesome...
Also: Cubone's mother apparently dies after childbirth... Just remembered that...


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## Worst Username Ever (Oct 5, 2008)

Not really sure. I think they live somewhat longer than "normal" animals for some reason.


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## Diz (Oct 5, 2008)

Don't forget the entire mountain in ruby sapphire and emerald... also all of the towers dedicated to deceased pokemon....as for their lifespans, I have no clue...But that reference to the ninetales that you mentioned, its owner/trainer did die. and yet it still wasn't released....Weird.


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## ___urnamz2longfixit___ (Oct 5, 2008)

I have the feeling that they don't die due to old age. In the anime, Ash and company are told by various people that so-and-so caught this Pokémon when he/she was a child and in most cases, we're talking about captures that happened twenty or thirty years ago.

I do think that Pokémon can die from unnatural causes, like a Charmander being left out in the rain. Should its tale be extinguished, it'll die. Similar to the case of Marowak dying after giving birth. 

In that sense, no, Pokémon don't die at a certain point. Their deaths are unexpected and unpredictable. Otherwise, they life forever.

And if they're meant to live forever, there's no way their purpose was to die and be recreated as Ghost-Type Pokémon.

...

At least, that's my view on the life of Pokémon.


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## Alexi (Oct 5, 2008)

I think they do die, but maybe not for decades. 

I have to think about this, hm...

Time to hit the shower.


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## Ayame (Oct 5, 2008)

Alexi said:


> I think they do die, but maybe not for decades.
> 
> I have to think about this, hm...
> 
> Time to hit the shower.


Or the Thinking Chair.
Get out your handy dandy notebooks, guys!


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## Lucas₇₅₅ (Oct 5, 2008)

My thinking chair died after an unfortunate run-in with burritos.
I think they are immortal, unless killed or by unnatural causes, like Hatter said.


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## Ayame (Oct 5, 2008)

Pokemon whose trainers die might give up the will to live or something and waste away...  Of course, with definite exceptions.
I don't know.  It's an interesting subject, I think.


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## Darksong (Oct 6, 2008)

It's said that Ninetales lives for a thousand years, and Wartortle lives for ten thousand, but other than that, I think that Pokemon live as long as their animal counterparts normally do. It's most logical.


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## S. E. (Oct 6, 2008)

@Darksong: Then if so, Pikachu should have died by now.

I think I agree with Hatter. :/


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## shiny jiggly (Oct 6, 2008)

I think that most regular pokemon have a lifespan close to ours. Like, remember that one Pikachu with the blue eyes that could sense big waves? His trainer has had that thing for years! 
And BTW, wasn't the Cubone's mother killed by team rocket? Or are you talking about other Marowak and Cubone. (If its the last one, I have some sort of theory that has something to do with Kangaskhan. But that's a thread for another day.)


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## Novoni (Oct 6, 2008)

It said the surfing Pikachu was around 40 in that episode, didn't it?  Or am I making that number up? o.o

I think they would probably live longer than normal animals, but the smaller, more common species (Rattata, Pidgey, etc) probably don't live as long as, say, a Dragonite, I guess mostly due to the fact that the smaller ones would also be more likely to fall prey to a bigger one.  

And actually, what about the Pokemon like Metagross and Voltorb?  Can they just float around forever? Hm....


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## Cyndaquil (Oct 6, 2008)

No... Metacross and Voltorb can be melted so then you would just burn them into smoke and then I don't think they will live


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## Alexi (Oct 6, 2008)

What about manmade pokemon, like Porygon? Would they live until "turned off"?


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## Zeph (Oct 6, 2008)

^Yes.

(I love considering the 'life' of the Porygon line :D)

Anyway, I'd say most Pokémon have lifespans similar to humans. I think, however, that the bigger, 'tougher' ones (Finaol evolutions and such) live longer then that. Also, legendaries, being sort-of-deities, are immortal to natural death. In my opinion.


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## Adnan (Oct 6, 2008)

I'm pretty sure they're immortal.


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## .GoreTuzk (Oct 6, 2008)

Alexi said:


> What about manmade pokemon, like Porygon? Would they live until "turned off"?


Does Porygon have "life"? I mean, is it a living thing or just an inteligent robot thing?


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## Old Catch (Oct 6, 2008)

They can't be immortal. Remember in RBFRLG, Gary's Raticate dies. (I think it's his Raticate but I don't remember well.) Also there is the little girl who who gives you Swift in RB and Return in FRLG, she says she doesn't need it anymore because her pokemon died. And in the lobby of the Lavender Tower, a girl says something like, 'My Growlithe... why did you have to die?'.

Um. I don't think the pokemon creators have actually worked anything out regarding lifespans. I think Pokemon just die when it's conveniant to the story.


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## Murkrow (Oct 6, 2008)

Maybe they live the same amount as ordinary animals, they just don't age while in their balls.

Either that or they don't die of old age.


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## Fredie (Oct 6, 2008)

Until the internal battery dies
I think that they live after a certain amount of time outside their Pokéball (how long I'm not to sure), I don't believe that they age inside their balls, as they are turned into energy inside the balls being held by the mirrors in it, so they are held in a sort of state of waiting IMO.


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## Ayame (Oct 7, 2008)

I never suggested that they were totally immortal; they are shown to die and their death is mentioned.  I just think that maybe they don't die of old age or anything.


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## Diz (Oct 8, 2008)

In Butterfree's fanfic, the pokemon live in a state of suspended animation while inside a pokeball. So that means that they won't age while in a pokeball.


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## Mewtwo (Oct 8, 2008)

Marowaks don't die right after you breed them...But Cubone's entry says its mother dies... Really, I'm not sure about lifespans. I just wated to point that out >:3


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## Storm Earth and Fire (Oct 9, 2008)

Mewtwo said:


> Marowaks don't die right after you breed them...But Cubone's entry says its mother dies... Really, I'm not sure about lifespans. I just wated to point that out >:3


The game abtracts a LOT of things for the sake of gameplay.

I want to say that most species have an average lifespan a bit longer than that of humans.


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## Not Meowth (Oct 9, 2008)

*FOREVER*

Seriously though, I don't know if Pokémon are meant to have a specific lifespan. Some Pokémon do (e.g. Ninetales is meant to live for 1000 years (I think) etc.), and Pokémon such as legendaries are supposed to have been around for millenia. Presumably the legends _don't_ die- Arceus certainly couldn't, being a God- so they live forever.

Ultimately death doesn't come into Pokémon, to keep its family-friendly image of ignoring death and passing the buck until kids eventually find out from someone else. XD


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## Evolutionary (Oct 10, 2008)

I think somewhere below 1000 years except for stuff like legends and Ninetales. The way it's said, Ninetales's life span seems amazing so other normal Pokemon must have not so amazing lifespans. Smaller less powerful Pokemon like Rattata would have shorter lifespans and strong powerful Pokemon might love longer like lets say, a Garchomp. Maybe Psychic Pokemon would live longer because of their Psychic powers. Hmm...this thread gets you thinking...ehh...


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## Yarnchu (Oct 11, 2008)

_Ditto_ said:


> In Butterfree's fanfic, the pokemon live in a state of suspended animation while inside a pokeball. So that means that they won't age while in a pokeball.


Just because Butterfree said something doesn't mean it is true. Besides: It's fan fiction. Are you really going to regard it as "true"?


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## Darksong (Oct 11, 2008)

Thanks for mentioning Garchomp, EeveeSkitty. I was going to say that Garchomp lives around the lifespan of real dragons, about 400 or 500 years at maximum. Other than that, I think that most Pokemon, with the exception of Rattata and such, live about as long as humans do. Of course, Ghost-types live forever.


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## Murkrow (Oct 11, 2008)

When a Pokémon dies, does it turn into a ghost Pokémon?
And if so, what decides which one it turns into?

How long does Missingno. live?


These are the kinds questions we should be answering.
I might write some strange fanfic or something to answer them.


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## Icalasari (Oct 11, 2008)

Everybody saying that Pokémon are immortal, look at Absol's Emerald entry. It is a LONG LIVED Pokémon that lives about *100 YEARS*. And that is Canon, for Arceus' sake!

That means that average Pokémon, at most, dies around the same time as humans


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## Murkrow (Oct 11, 2008)

I tend to ignore Pokédex entries, some of them can't be true. I'll think of an example later.

Although you're probably right. A lot of Pokédex entries are realistic.


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## Not Meowth (Oct 11, 2008)

Murkrow said:


> When a Pokémon dies, does it turn into a ghost Pokémon?
> And if so, what decides which one it turns into?
> 
> How long does Missingno. live?


Good questions.

Could be a very easy way to get a Gengar if you don't have any friends to trade with. Just shoot a Bidoof. >=3


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## Icalasari (Oct 11, 2008)

Murkrow said:


> I tend to ignore Pokédex entries, some of them can't be true. I'll think of an example later.
> 
> Although you're probably right. A lot of Pokédex entries are realistic.


Absol's seems pretty reasonable. Only ones that I think may have issues are Ghost type entries and Legendary entries. Absol is neither



Mike the Foxhog said:


> Good questions.
> 
> Could be a very easy way to get a Gengar if you don't have any friends to trade with. Just shoot a Bidoof. >=3


YAY! A USE FOR COMMONS!


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## Alexi (Oct 11, 2008)

>>

Ghost pokemon aren't actual ghosts. If they were, then they wouldn't be able to breed. They can die just as any other pokemon.

Dead pokemon can returns as ghosts, as can be seen with Marowak in the Lavender Tower. But it didn't become a ghastly.


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## Murkrow (Oct 11, 2008)

Then why are places like Lavender Tower and Mt.Pyre infested with ghost types it they aren't the ghosts of the Pokémon who were buried there?

Marowak is a good point, though.


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## Alexi (Oct 11, 2008)

It's where they happen to live. :/ Perhaps they can communicate with the ghosts of pokemon, and that's why they are drawn there, but they themselves are just not ghosts.


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## Murkrow (Oct 11, 2008)

Ghastly's Pokédex data:
"A Pokémon born from poison gases."

Not really a ghost then. But... yeah.

Haunter's
"it is said to be from another dimension"
But ghastly is made from gas, how can gas that comes from this dimension suddenly become from another? Oh well.
How exactly can you 'come from another dimension'?

Spiriomb's
"A Pokémon that was formed by 108 spirits"

I don't get that kind of Pokémon. Exeggcute, Dugtrio etc. How are they a single Pokémon?


Pokédex data can't really be trusted, but meh.


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## Icalasari (Oct 12, 2008)

Murkrow said:


> Ghastly's Pokédex data:
> "A Pokémon born from poison gases."
> 
> Not really a ghost then. But... yeah.
> ...


Yeah, that is why I said ghost data is inaccurate


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## Not Meowth (Oct 12, 2008)

Murkrow said:


> Ghastly's Pokédex data:
> "A Pokémon born from poison gases."
> 
> Not really a ghost then.


The ghost of a Koffing, perhaps?

Actually I may be onto something, they do look a little similar-


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## Ken #1 (Oct 12, 2008)

I would of never though someone would ask this question. I think they live over 10,000 years or so even when there owner/trainer die. They might give up on life and don't want to battle anymore but they should still be alive.


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## Renteura (Oct 12, 2008)

Darksong said:


> It's said that Ninetales lives for a thousand years, and Wartortle lives for ten thousand, but other than that, I think that Pokemon live as long as their animal counterparts normally do. It's most logical.


My new Butterfree in FR is going to die tomorrow?

;_;


And Mike, I never thought of that, but now that I look at it, I do. Posion Gas, useless little balls, huge eyes, copyandpastedandchangedtwopixels mouths...

I always thought they would live about 10 years longer than their trainer, since they lived a life of luxury and wouldn't be able to fend for themselves in the wild.


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## Not Meowth (Oct 12, 2008)

Renteura said:


> useless little balls


There's no need to get personal.


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## Icalasari (Oct 12, 2008)

Ken #1 said:


> I would of never though someone would ask this question. I think they live over 10,000 years or so even when there owner/trainer die. They might give up on life and don't want to battle anymore but they should still be alive.


No

Absol is described as long lived, and lives 100 years (presumably in the wild)

The average Pokemon would likely only live about as long as a human


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## Crazy Linoone (Oct 13, 2008)

Hmmm.... I always assumed that the average Pokemon lives about as long as a human. Some more common ones and bug types (Shedinja not included) probably have shorter life spans, while fully evolved Pokemon lives for longer times. Dragons (Charizard, Salamence, and all those) and pseudo-legendaries can live for probably thousands of years, and legendaries don't die from age. 

But that's only what I think.


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